Achilles Last Stand
by TiTivillus
Summary: On their way to a new hunt in Nevada, Sam and Dean get caught in the crossfire of a mafia heist gone wrong and Sam gets heavily injured in the process. With a briefcase full of money and a crazy mob boss on their heels, will the Winchesters be able to survive? *Set around S2. Hurt!Sam, Protective!Dean*
1. Chapter 1

**Story Title:** Achilles Last Stand****

Summary: _On their way to a new hunt in Nevada, Sam and Dean get caught in the crossfire of a mafia heist gone wrong and Sam gets heavily injured in the process. With a briefcase full of money and a crazy mob boss on their heels, will the Winchesters be able to survive?_  
_Set around S2. Hurt!Sam, Protective!Dean_****

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the show.

**Warnings** for language and violence 

* * *

"Dean, stop the car!"

They were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere Nevada, when Sam suddenly tensed up on the passenger seat next to him.

"What?" Dean frowned shooting his brother a confused look. "Why?"

They had spent the last couple of hours in companionable silence, with Sam drifting in and out of sleep as the Impala purred and ate up mile after mile of the endless highway, when Sam suddenly got agitated for no apparent reason.

"I... I think I saw something," Sam muttered cryptically, eyes wide and unblinking as he peered outside through the car window.

_Well that managed to clear things up, _Dean thought sarcastically.

"Saw what?" he wanted to know, tracking his brother's gaze to the bleak and desolate landscape outside the window glass. His frown deepened when he found nothing but endless miles of orange soil and scarse wilderness surrounding them.

"I don't know, just... - just pull over okay?"

Dean shrugged and steered the car over onto the shoulder of the road, grimacing at the cloud of auburn dust that got kicked up by the tires.

"Sorry baby, ..." he muttered with a loving pat to the Impala's steering wheel, knowing it would be hard to get the layered grime off of her again once they had put this god forsaken place in the rear view mirror.

The car hadn't even come to a full halt, before Sam yanked the passenger door open and got out.

Dean shook his head at his brother's retreating back, before cutting the engine.

He trusted the kid's sharp instincts.

If Sammy was this stressed out over something, it usually wasn't without reason.

But did they really have to go for a stroll in the desert on nothing but a freaking hunch?

Dean sighed, already dreading whatever the hell was waiting for them, before he pushed the door open on the driver side and dragged himself out of the car.

Sam had already gotten in a good head start with these freakishly long legs of his, leading the way across the brittle clay with a single-mindedness that didn't faze to amaze the older Winchester brother.

"Wait up," Dean shouted over the soaring wind, as he jogged forward to catch up with Sam. "Do you even know where you're going? What are we even looking for?"

Instead of an answer, Sam suddenly skidded to a halt, pressing his flat palm against Dean's chest. "Look," he pointed at the ground and squatted down to take a closer look at the muddy imprints there.

Wheel traces.

Huh...

Dean crouched down beside his brother and let his callused fingers wander across the dried skid marks. It was hard to tell with the weather conditions here, but if he had to guess, Dean would say the marks were still pretty fresh. Somebody must have been driving like a maniac through this land not too long ago.

Only question was why.

"The trail goes this way," Dean's head snapped up when Sam nudged his side. "Come on."

They followed the path of tracks that lead even further away from the highway until something caught Dean's attention.

There in the distance, behind a series of auburn stone formations was their cause for distress.

"You've gotta be kidding me..."

Next to him, Sam's breath caught in his throat.

Not even twenty feet from where they were standing, the shattered remains of what once used to be a car where smashed against a solid wall of rock.

Dark wafts of smoke were fogging up the cloudless evening sky and Dean's heart skipped a beat when he noticed the blood-covered body lying in a lifeless heap next to the shattered windshield of the car wreck.

"Oh my god... "

Sam started running.

Dean followed suit, heart hammering a mile a minute in his chest.

Logically, he knew that they should be going for the other direction,- that it wasn't even remotely intelligent to get anywhere near a tank full of highly explosive fuel when one spark of the wrecked engine was enough to cause the whole thing to blow up and rip them into tiny pieces.

But putting themselves in the line of fire was pretty much their job description.

They wouldn't be true hunters, if they could face down Wendigos, Vampires and even demons- but turn their backs on a mundane catastrophe like a car crash just because it wasn't in their usual line of business.

Sam came to a halt next to the lifeless man lying in a pool of his own blood, the scattered fragments of broken glass shards surrounding him like some sort of twisted halo.

"I've got this one. Go see if there is anyone else trapped inside the car", his brother ordered in a clipped, business-like tone that left no room for discussion.

Dean stayed just long enough to watch Sam press two long fingers against the injured man's jugular vein, before he ripped himself out of his rigor and turned to look through the busted glass of the back seat.

It seemed like nobody else was inside.

Dean closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

So it was just the driver that got hurt then.

He didn't even want to think about how he would have reacted upon finding the guy's kids in the backseat or something...

The unnatural heat coming off the wracked car along with the unhealthy amount of smoke were seriously alarming.

This thing was a ticking time bomb, so much was for sure.

Dean turned around to inspect the battered front of the car where jagged shards of metal were still sticking off the door frames.

Judging from the way the driver's seat was pinned against the steering wheel, Dean suspected that the driver must have been catapulted out of the car by force of impact.

And the chances to survive the swan dive through a windshield were probably rather slim. "Sam? Talk to me dude, he alive?"

"Yeah", came his brother's rushed response from the other side of the totaled car. "His pulse is weak, but he's breathing."

Dean couldn't believe it. The favors must have been on this guy's side, if he was still breathing after the fucking stunt he had pulled here.

Dean was about to turn around to help his brother move the body when a relatively undamaged black leather briefcase beneath the glove compartment caught his attention. Reaching in through the battered window, Dean pulled the briefcase out, narrowly avoiding the sharp glass shards that still clung to the metal frame.

He was about to push it open when he heard a muffled grunt that sounded suspiciously like his brother's.

That one little sound of distress was enough to ignite the big-brother-instinct in Dean.

"Sammy?", he asked, feeling a twinge of panic at the lack of response.

Dropping the briefcase to the ground, Dean rushed around the car only to freeze in midstep when he took in the scene in front of him.

The injured man that had been lying unmoving on the soil only minutes before, was now wide awake, bright grey eyes sparkling with fury as he gasped for breath, straightening himself up from the dirty ground with great physical effort.

In his shaking right hand the guy held a gun, its steal muzzle steadily pointed at Sam's chest.

"You t-trying to steal the m-money?!", the guy spit out angrily, lifting the barrel until it was hovering over his brother's heart. "Y-you really think it would be that e-easy?"

A sinister grin formed on the guy's thin lips, revealing blood-covered teeth as he cocked the gun, the metalic sound sending a cold shiver of mind-numbing fear down Dean's spine.

"Hey now, easy there-", he rasped out, inching a little closer to where the stranger held his brother at gunpoint, causing the guy to whirl around and look at Dean instead. "You were in a severe car accident and me and my brother here-" he paused for emphasis "we are just here to help you, alright? Now, why don't you take that gun down and we'll talk-"

"You want to t-talk after you tried t-to kill me?!", the man sneered, blood and spittle flying from his mouth as he dug a hand into Sam's shaggy hair and yanked his head back, viciously exposing his neck and causing the youngest Winchester to groan in pain.

Dean's fingers twitched, every fibre of his being itching to rip the son-of-a-bitch that was hurting his little brother apart.

"What is he to you? Are y-you both working for Ruttner?" The guy pressed the muzzle of his gun tightly against the underside of Sam's chin. "Tell me!"

"He's my _brother_, I swear!", Dean hastily supplied, palms raised in surrender as his heart threatened to burst with a new surge of adrenaline.

"We aren't working for anybody and we don't want your money, okay? Now tell me what to do to make you believe me- anything I swear I'll do it, but let my brother go, _please-_"

For a second the guy seemed to actually consider it, eyes clouding over with confusion as he slowly lowered the gun and released his hold on Sam's hair.

Dean could have bawled in relief, but just like that the spell was broken and the confusion on the man's face morphed back into an angry mask of indifference.

"S-say your prayers, boy", the guy cruelly uttered and Dean had just enough time to lock eyes with his brother one last time, before he pulled the trigger, shooting Sam square in the chest. 

_**TBC...  
**_

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_Sooo I started another story since my creative muse went into over-drive :PP Please tell me what you thought and drop a review if you want me to continue ;) If you guys turn out to like the idea, I will add more chapters of course and make it a WIP ;)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion and Dean stood there frozen, unable to do anything but watch as this stranger shot down the one person that meant more to him than life itself.

"Noo!"

His voice sounded foreign to his own ears- garbled and high-pitched with the panic that laced the words, but it was too late. The bullet tore through Sam's skin and muscle with horrifying precision, lodging itself somewhere between his ribs.

"Sammy!"

He hit the ground with an agonized grunt, face twisted in pain and Dean was storming towards him without making the conscious decision to do so.

The mere sight of Sam on the ground- injured and bleeding and _in god-honest pain_-was enough to propel him forward, momentarily forgetting the circumstances of their dire situation.

But Dean was harshly brought back to reality, when he found himself staring down the barrel of the gun that had just been used on his brother.

"Not so fast...cowboy", the stranger uttered, with a menacing glimmer in his eyes.

"You come any closer and he won't be the only one on the ground. We clear?"

Dean clenched his jaw in silent fury, as he glowered at the man in front of him.

They had been willing to help this guy- had risked both their lives in the process and this was how they were getting thanked for it. Seriously?!

Who did shit like that?!

"Alright" Dean nodded despite his own fury and took a step back, knowing there was no sense in getting himself shot when his brother depended on him to get them out of this mess. Because out here in the middle of the desert without cell phones, water, or medical supplies- their chances of surviving a shot wound were rather slim.

And if Dean had to appease this asshole in order to get them both out of this alive, well than that was a price he was willing to pay.

So he stood unmoving, palms slightly raised in surrender eyes fixated on his brother's writhing body on the ground.

"Sammy?", Dean asked, heart clenching at the pitiful moans of agony his brother was trying to stifle as he frantically clutched at the bullet hole in his chest.

Dean was trying to get a better glimpse at the wound, but from where he was standing it was impossible to tell the extent of his brother's injury.

If they were really unlucky, the bullet could have hit an organ or nicked something vital.

But Dean wasn't willing to consider that a possibility.

They would both get out of this alive, damnit. And in a few years they would talk about this over a beer and laugh like- _Hey, do you remember when we were in that fucking desert in Nevada and you got shot by the gun-crazed victim of a car accident? Yeah dude- just our kind of luck, right?  
_Ha-fucking-ha... And they lived happily ever after.

Dean was already looking forward to that day, seriously he was. But that day wouldn't come for a long time and right now he had other things to worry about.

Like his bleeding, to-be-in-shock shivering mess of a brother, that gasped for breath on the desert soil, or the nutcase stranger with the 45' pointed at his freaking face.

"Sam, how bad is it?!" Dean pressed nervously, worried by the lack of response.

He made another step forward, only to be stopped when the stranger cocked the gun.

"Get b-back or you won't live to mourn him, I fucking... swear to god-"

"Alright big boy, I _hear_ you, okay?! You are the one with a gun in your hands, you are the one in charge, but I need to check on him and I can't do it from here. So why don't you keep that gun trained on me as I walk over and take a quick look?"

As long as he would be allowed to be close to his wounded brother, to look into his eyes and assess the damage done to his body, Dean was willing to put up with pretty much anything.

After all being held at gunpoint wasn't a new experience for either one of them.

But of course the fucking asshole wouldn't comply.

"You're staying... right where y-you are, boy" he panted, seemingly exhausted from whatever injuries he had sustained during the car accident.

Dean quickly scanned the man's body and noticed a few heavily bleeding cuts on his arms and chest as well as a pretty spectacular gash on the center of his forehead. He was probably concussed, disoriented and suffering blood loss.

That was good.

Dean could use that to his advantage.

He only needed to wear him out a little more- just enough for him to lower that freaking gun before he could make a move.

"Look, man. I got no idea who you are or what the hell happened here, but we were just trying to help you, alright? We weren't involved in any of this and we certainly weren't hired by anybody to kill you or steal your money or-"

"_Liar_!", the guy roared, causing Sam to whimper and flinch back next to him.

"Dean-", his brother gasped, lifting pain-filled hazel eyes to meet his own, as if he had only just now become aware of his surroundings.

His face had already lost a bit of its natural color and his fingers were trembling as he shifted them against the ground in a weak and uncoordinated manner.

Crimson blood had already soaked the fabric of his shirt around the wound and Sam's hands were coated with it.

_Shit.  
_  
Dean took a deep breath to keep his voice steady.

"I'm right here, buddy. Can you tell me how bad it is?"

"H-hurts..."

"Shut the fuck up! Now you got 5 seconds to tell me why Ruttner sent you here, before I kill you both."

Dean's pulse quickened, knowing the stranger was crazy enough to pull through with his threat if he didn't think of something real quick.

"Okay fine, I'll tell you!", he replied hastily, raising his hands a little higher. "You were right all along, Ruttner did send us to get the money."

Clearly this guy was completely nuts, so reasoning would get them nowhere. And if he wasn't gonna believe the truth, Dean would simply have to improvise a little.

"I fucking knew it!", the stranger ground out and spit a glob of blood to the ground.

"But there is more!", Dean rushed on not giving the guy much time to think his words over. "He wanted us to let you live- that's why we came to check on you. Said he needed to get some more answers out of you before you died. We were supposed to get the money and then take you back to the headquarters."

Dean hoped the guy didn't notice the slight waver in his voice when he talked. Sure, he was used to making stuff up on the spot- hell he had pretty much been telling lies his whole life.

Still, this was different. Their lives had never depended on a lie before.

Figuratively speaking maybe. But not like this. Never like this.

But the guy seemed to buy it anyway.

"Well seemed like your little plan backfired", the guy snorted with a little shrug of his shoulders.

A rivulet of blood was dropping from his bearded chin and Dean wondered- not for the first time- how this man was even still _talking_ in the state he was in. Let alone _shooting_ people.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Dean gave back. "Ruttner knows you are good- he was afraid something like that was gonna happen. That's why he ordered a second team of hitmen to be sent out in case Sam and me weren't gonna make it back."

Okay granted, this wasn't the best set of lies he had ever come up with, but considering the fact that he had no fucking clue what the hell was going on, he thought he did a pretty solid job.

"You two will be long dead by that time they get here!"

"And so will you", Dean shot back, knowing exactly what to say to make the man cave. "I mean c'mon, do you _seriously_ think you could get far in the state you are in?! Chances are, you will die of dehydration before they get here to fetch the money! And even if you did survive- Ruttner would kill you for having gunned down two of his most favorite hitmen."

Sammy groaned, in a twisted kind of moral support and it took about everything inside of Dean to not just drop the act and storm forward to be at his brother's side.

But he knew he couldn't afford to get distracted now- not when the guy was so close to caving. He only needed one little thing,- one final punchline to shove him over the edge.

If the look of insecurity on the guy's face was anything to go by, that was.

"What's it gonna be? Slow excruciating death by dehydration?", Dean said, driving his point home. "Or having to explain yourself to the boss while he makes you wish you had never been born in the first place?"

That seemed to do the trick.

The guy looked at Dean with a mixture of emotions on his face, fear and hesitation flickering in his eyes. He opened his mouth and closed it again, Dean's words having momentarily taken the fight out of him.

And Dean held his breath, not knowing what would happen next. Would the guy shoot them anyways? Would he lower the gun and give up?

His mind kept going through all the possibilities until a slight movement of the guy's shaking hand, made him tense up in anticipation.

That was it.

He had lost.

They were gonna die.

Dean locked eyes with his brother once more, shooting him an apologizing look.

_I'm sorry Sammy. I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry...  
_  
But nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

"You are right...", the stranger muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. "There is no escape this time. It's over for me."

Dean didn't have time to process the words, because the next second, the man whipped the pistol around, aiming at his own head.

Dean's eyes widened in shock. No. Nononono... Fuck-

The trigger was pulled with an earth shattering bang and Dean watched in absolute horror as the man in front of him collapsed to the ground, blood and brain spattered on the orange clay as the gun fell from his lifeless hands.

Even in his weakened state, Sammy emitted a terrified scream and tried to scramble away from the mangled body beside him.

The sound of his injured brother's obvious distress was enough to rip Dean out of his own rigor. Fighting against his urge to throw up, he lunged forward and dropped down on his knees beside Sam who flinched back, eyes wide with panic.

"_Shit_...Hey, shhh... it's alright. You're okay."

"Oh...god..." Sam panted, reaching out with his blood-smeared hands to claw at Dean's chest. "God...did h-he -is he d-dead?"

Dean covered his brother's hand with his own and locked his jaw. Trust his brother to sympathize with the guy who had shot him in the chest only minutes before.

"Yeah. Snuffed himself." Dean gave back curtly, trying to downplay how shaken up he was himself. Sam needed him to stay clearheaded right now.

They needed to get the hell out of here and get Sam's wound treated. Then they could figure out everything else.

"Where did he hit you? Can you breathe normally?"

He reached out to pull the saturated fabric from Sam's skin and take a closer look at the shot wound. It was an inch or two beneath Sam's collarbone on the right side of his chest and blood was still protruding from the wound.

Sam hissed in pain when Dean lifted him gently off the ground and brushed his fingers against his back, looking for an exit wound. Sure enough he found one, cursing angrily under his breath.

That meant Sam would be in serious danger of bleeding out if they didn't find help quick.

"Breathing's o-okay... I think", Sam gasped, leaning heavily against Dean's shoulder.

"You _think_?!", Dean pressed not wanting to risk anything until he was sure his actions wouldn't cause more damage to his little brother. There was a very real chance that the bullet had nicked Sam's left lung or that it had smashed one of his ribs and caused them to puncture it. And if that was the case, lifting Sam up any further would only put more pressure on his lung and that wasn't something he wanted to chance.

"'M gonna need a little more than that, Sammy."

"N-nuh, I think 'm good-j-just go slow, 'kay?"

Dean brushed Sam's shaggy bangs from his forehead in a rare gesture of gentle affection and nodded. He was thankful that his brother had come to a silent understanding about having to get the hell out of dodge without wasting too much time.

The car wreck behind them was still a ticking time bomb and in case someone was coming for the dead guy and his money or whatever- they had better disappeared by then.

So without further ado, Dean slung a steadying arm around his brother's thin waist and braced the palm of his other hand against his stomach before slowly getting up from the ground. Sam grunted, legs shaky and barely able to support him even as Dean took on most of his brother's weight.

Somehow they both managed to get into a vertical position, sweat pearls glistening on both their foreheads from the shared effort and the heat that was still radiating from the crashed car. "Alright, that's it, buddy. Almost done."

"Shit.", Sam swore, swaying slightly as his eyes found the gory corpse on the ground and blanching at the sight.

"Don't look at him.", Dean instructed, not wanting for his brother to get sick on top of everything else. "We need to get out of here, c'mon."

Together they started the slow and painful walk back to the Impala, Dean shouldering most of Sam's weight as his brother grunted and moaned in pain with each step that jarred the wound in his sternum.

They had barely made it halfway across the dreary expanse when the sound of a roaring engine became audible in the distance.

Sam tensed up beneath his arm and Dean stopped in his tracks, heart beating frantically in his chest.

"Y-you think they're c-coming for him?"

"No idea.", Dean answered gruffly. "Maybe I should check this out before we go any further."

"What?!", Sam's voice kicked up a notch and a frown appeared on his pale forehead. "Y'ou're n-not gonna go check _anything _out... a-alone, Dean"

But Dean had already made his mind up about this. Sammy was too injured to walk on his own and in case there were other gun-toting maniacs on their way here, Dean didn't want his little brother anywhere in the line of fire.

"Listen, I'm gonna be careful alright. But I need you to wait here for a second while I go see who that is." He lowered Sam to the ground, ignoring his little brother's vicious protesting. "Keep pressure on that wound, alright? I'll be back in a second."

The engine had gotten continuously louder over the past few seconds and finally came to a stuttering halt somewhere on the highway close by.

Dean pulled the pearl-handled Glock from his waistband and turned to leave.

"Dean, wait! Don't just l-leave me here- _**Dean**_!"

But it was already too late.

Dean was already too far gone to hear him.

**_TBC..._**

* * *

_Here we go, guys! Hope y'all liked the second chapter of this story :D I am gonna try to update real soon ;)  
Thanks for reading and reviewing! Please keep me posted on what you think! Cheerio~_


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